But his pragmatic approach is best. If the Bulls are the best spot for him, there’s no reason not to consider them. Otherwise, Deng might just be punishing himself for the next four years purely out of spite.

For the same reasons, the Bulls should consider re-signing Deng. They’d know what they’re getting – a good player who’s well-liked among the team – and he might be the missing piece. For their trouble, they would have avoided a year of the luxury tax and acquired a few draft picks. Not a bad deal.

A good example of such a trade-and-return was the San Antonio Spurs sending Sean Elliot to the Detroit Pistons in 1993 for Dennis Rodman. Elliot struggled with the Pistons, and while he was a restricted free agent the following summer, Detroit traded him back to San Antonio (which was apparently allowed then).

History repeating itself with Deng is a longshot – a real longshot. The Bulls likely traded Deng to seek a big upgrade. But if they strike out and Deng is the best fit left on the market…

If the Bulls don’t get Melo, I really hope they can somehow get Deng back once he realizes he’s not worth much more then 3 years/30 million in todays NBA market.

What if the Cavs re-sign him and pick up Boozer off amnesty though! That would be like CHI part 2. Deng and Boozer, Varejao in the role of Noah (they’re dang near the same player) and Kyrie as your oft-injured star scoring PG! Then you got your defensive minded coach in Brown to play the Thibs role (okay, okay, don’t laugh…I know I just stretched it there!) all you really need is a Butler. So then trade Waiters for a Butler-like player and presto! Instant contender.

Agreed. The Bulls made him their best offer, and he felt it was too low. The Bulls then traded Deng rather than increase their offer.

If nobody on the free agent market makes him a better offer, would he consider going back to the Bulls? Sure.

However, if anybody surpasses that offer, he’s not coming back. Deng only ends up with the Bulls if he attracts little interest on the free agent market, which I doubt. I suspect the Cavs will want to lock him up long-term.

I’m not a huge fan of Melo, and I really like Deng, but I can’t agree with your comment.

The Bulls have a ton of good defenders. What they need is a legit second scoring option alongside Rose. Boozer was signed to fill that role, but his production has fallen short of expectations on offense, and he is bad on defense. The Bulls need a 20+ points per game guy who can space the floor, and Melo would fit the bill. A Rose-Butler-Melo-Gibson-Noah lineup would have 3 really good defenders and 2 really good scorers.

The best part of that lineup? Butler, Gibson, and Noah are all players happy to score under 20 points per game, so the bulk of the shots could go to Rose and Melo without having to worry about feeding a high-volume #3 option.

Melo and Rose would score 45 ppg on 38 shots. You would basically be giving up half your possessions for guaranteed average production. You wouldn’t have some awesome offense, just a middling one, and your defense would suffer.

The Bulls have every reason to re-sign Deng, but they won’t. On some level trying to build a good young team makes sense, but on another level they are looking like the Cubs: the thought that they could start to win big “any year now” looks like a load of crap.